


dream another dream

by aliaaaaaa



Series: webgottrash tumblr prompts [73]
Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: M/M, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-17 13:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8145968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliaaaaaa/pseuds/aliaaaaaa
Summary: eugene dreams of the war.





	

**Author's Note:**

> an anon requested sad sledgefu and my fingers slipped

Eugene dreams of the war —

— Of mortars whistling past his ears, of grenades going off around him; loud and deafening, drowning his voice when he screams for help.

Sometime Hillbilly is there, shouting at him to get his ass on the move when he huddles closer to the ground; wanting to bury himself so far down that the Japs can’t find him. Sometime Hillbilly looks whole, but oftentime Hillbilly is covered in blood oozing out from the wounds on his chest. Eugene tries to apologize; tries to say sorry for not being fast enough to move him to the safe side. Tries but _fails_ because in this dream his voice is inaudible no matter how wide he opens his mouth and how much he shouts and shouts and shouts until his throat feels sandpapery; yet his voice is always drowned by the sound of the war.

The dream shifts and he’s in the hut, cradling the wounded lady in his arms and _whimpering_ because he’s sorry he survived; he’s sorry he gets to go home when others can’t. That it’s unfair for him to live on when he just sits on his ass all day wasting time and doing nothing; still trying to find his bearing in the newly liberated world.

When he looks down, Eugene realizes that he’s cradling Merriell; his fingers are slicked with blood and Merriell is quietly begging him to end the pain; his words dragging on painfully.

_Kill me, Eugene._

And Eugene starts _sobbing_ because Merriell is dying and he can’t do anything and there’s so much blood on his hands and blood falling down from the skies and the sound of mortars and grenades and guns are too loud that his voice is drowned again when he begs Merriell to never leave him.

Merriell keeps uttering his name like a prayer in broken whisper.

_Gene, please. Eugene. Gene._

_“Eugene!”_

He snaps his eyes open.

His senses slowly coming alive and he feels Merriell’s hand gripping his shoulder, sees Merriell’s worried face peering down at him, hears Merriell’s smooth voice murmuring his name.

“Merriell?”

Merriell wraps his arm around Eugene and pulls him closer until their bodies are nestled against each other that he can feel Merriell’s bones digging into his flesh; his face nuzzling Eugene’s sweaty neck.

“Merriell.”

“I’m here, Eugene. It’s just a bad dream. ‘M here,” Merriell assures him, kissing his shoulder lightly; his fingers tracing Eugene’s cheek, wiping the tears away.

Eugene breathes deeply, exhaling a shaky breath because the image of a dying Merriell is still stuck in his mind’s eyes. Merriell pulls him closer, hooks his ridiculously long leg around Eugene’s waist and runs his hand smoothly against Eugene’s back.

“‘M here, Eugene,” Merriell whispers.

“Stay,” Eugene pleads, he chances a look at Merriell because he needs to see that Merriell is safe here with him; that the war is truly over and they’re both safe and sound in their home.

Together.

Merriell smiles, opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

“What?” Eugene asks.

Merriell speaks again, his mouth moving but no sound is heard.

“I can’t hear you,” Eugene says, his brows furrowing because Merriell is talking to him but he can’t hear a single thing and everything is just too quiet that he can hear his own heart beating in his chest, there’s a stutter and Merriell is talking and yet he is muted and Eugene’s ears are buzzing from the oppressing silence—

Eugene blinks his eyes open.

He stares at the ceiling for five seconds before he reaches out his arm to the left side of the bed.

Shelton is not there.

Eugene is alone in his bed and Shelton is not there.

He wasn’t there when Gene woke up from his nap on the train. He isn’t here now even when Eugene _yearns_ for him.

Eugene closes his eyes, tells himself to breathe because his chest feels tight from longing for someone who isn’t there.

Eugene dreams of the war, yet the dream that shakes him the most is of Shelton being there for him. _With him._ Because he wakes up every day only to realize that it’s just a dream, that Shelton is long gone; leaving him alone without saying goodbye. That he keeps chasing the Shelton in his dream to get some sort of closure so that his heart and his mind will have some peace.

But all Eugene can do is to roll on his side, close his eyes and will himself not to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! comments and kudos are very much appreciated!


End file.
